Ex Mente [Lore Development|Closed]

[Gigaverse]

Ex Mente ~where Giga does whatever for lore development~
エクス・メンテ 〜ギガがロー発達のために何でもするところ〜
エクス・メンテ 〜何処ギガは何ルシをハせふラ発達でルロー〜
Ex Mente ~Giga ga lore pattachi no tame ni nandemo suru tokoro~
Ex Mente ~ubi Giga pro progressione lore quicquid facit~
Ex Mente ~ubi Giga por desveloppamento de lore non-importa-quid faci~
Ex Mente ~ubi Giga furo hattatsu lore kikkido hashi~
Ex Mente ~ube Giga hase nenborotakedo ho ro puattatsu dero lore~
Ex Mente ~üb Giga zuß für le Tislapfement dem Lore fäche~
Ex Mente ~euf Giga toet vaas veur le dislappement dem lore~
Ex Mente ~wa Giga wasdannauch doet vur Lore-Entwickling~
Ex Mente ~wuo Giga waschouchimmer füür tai Lore-Ontwecklung thaut~
~אֶכּס מֵנתֵּ ~גִּגַּ גּוַל לָר הִתּפַּתּחוּתּ צַכּס דֵּמֻתּ פּיוּכּ לֶיספַּן

[insert pretentious introductory text here]

[Gigaverse]

Table of Contents

1. War of a Million Stars - Ode to an End (Drama)

[Gigaverse]

[FOR LATER]

[Gigaverse]

For convenience: Yujans don't look much different from humans.

- (Drama) -

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Place: Unknown (Elsewhere outside IOS presence)
Date: -Once upon a time, in a place far far away-

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The sky burned. The whole city burned. Everyone was dead.

Everyone but the two of us.

As our backs touched each other, we fell to the ground and seated ourselves together, each of us facing opposite directions. Our weapons no longer functioned. The flames surrounded us. The enemy was a grand distance away, yet we could already hear their footsteps approach from afar. This would be the end, I thought. We have fought hard, but all of it amounted to naught. Our final moments would be on this battlefield.

"Soldier... what's your status?"

A male voice spoke up. The voice of the person sitting against me. My commander Kajisamori.

"Sir, I can't move too much. Their paralysis agent is having an effect on me. It feels hot. I don't know how long I can survive. This may just be it for me, Sir."

"Right... sorry for dragging you into all this."

"It's my duty, Sir. It's been... my greatest pleasure serving with you."

"Let's just... drop with the formalities. There isn't much time left. Call me whatever you want."

"Oh. ... yes, Commander."

We remained quiet for a brief moment. Then, the commander spoke up.

"... Nakushimi, tell me. So many died by my incompetence. In the end, I'm... just a pathetic man who insisted on dragging his people... slowly along the roads of hell. Do I deserve... to be your leader?"

"What would have become of me... if you didn't take me in, when the emperor executed my entire clan? I can never speak for the fallen, but... you will be my personal Commander - always."

"Heh. So I managed to do a smidgen of good, to compensate for all my terrible failures. That's comforting..."

I didn't know what to say to that. So I sat, my eyes closed. I could hear the intense blazes around us. If they wouldn't consume us, the enemies would. The soulless machines, removed of compassion, served only the will of a priestess who had manipulated the emperor into this route of horror. All Yujans would be subject to it. The thought of death appeared to be a privilege compared to being trapped in a prison of metal for eternity. But perhaps that wasn't it - that wasn't what I sought in becoming the adjutant to my commander...

"Nakushimi," he called me once more. I opened my eyes.

"Yes...?"

"Can you run?"

"I don't... think so..."

"Can you stand up and walk then?"

"If I try... maybe I can..."

"Good. What I want you to do, is to muster your strength to make it out of here."

"C-Commander...?"

"I'd like to assist you too, since you've done for me... so much more than I ask or even deserve. But if I did, they would follow you. Go. Leave me."

... He... told me to abandon him.

Was that it?

I turned to look behind me. All I saw was just a portion of the commander's face.

"What of you, Commander?"

"Heard they're gonna... shove me into one of those suits and turn me into one of their robot dolls. I guess... that means I get to live forever. I don't know if they'll let you live, though. So... you've got to run. In that metal coffin, I'd want to at least see you... alive and healthy."

"Commander, Sir; I'm not abandoning you. I'd much prefer being martyred here with you!"

"Damn, soldier... don't contradict my order at the last minute...!"

"I... cannot afford to abandon you."

"Your life, Nakushimi... if you abandon mine, you'd at least get a chance at a future!"

"I refuse! It will be a life without you... It will be short and terrifying."

Expending the last of his remaining power to do so, the commander turned 180°, grabbed my shoulders, and looked straight into my eye.

"Damnit...! Nakushimi... don't get sentimental now! Stay strong! You are my last soldier, I want you to fight on, if not for me, then for yourself! I do not want to file one that last casualty report seconds before I die!"

I felt my hands having liquefied. I'm not strong as you think, Commander. I'm weak.

Water would flow from my eye sockets as I kept blinking, and my vision blurred. I'd like to think it was whatever gaseous agent the enemy has deployed, but... that's not quite it.

"Commander... I'm your last soldier, so I don't want to fail you, but I cannot... I cannot follow your orders. I cannot. You're my family now. You're... the only anything I have left. P-Please excuse my selfishness, but... I can't... fight without you anyway, so I'd rather be here... with you, than run away...!"

There was nothing either of us could do. Nothing I could do. We were hopeless. Nowhere to go, we could but sit and wait to see the face of the God of Death. I grabbed onto him by instinct, then pressed my head into his chest. I sobbed. He embraced me, and gave my back gentle pats as I continued to act like the hurt little girl asking her dad for help with a big wound to her knee.

"I'm sorry. I was the one being inconsiderate, asking you to live through hell to 'fight for another day'. That's just impossible. I am stupid."

"Commander...! Commander..."

"I'm here... I'm here."

The footsteps. The sound of metal. The enemy came closing in on us, with me still in the Commander's embrace. We looked up. There was the appearance of a creature reminiscent of a Yujan woman, but ultimately was anything but. Priestess Pezuji of the Imperial Cult came to greet us "in person".

"I would never have guessed this is how the great general Kajisamori would spend one of his last moments. It's almost funny to watch."

We, the rebels, were captured.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬⛩▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

A "processing facility", where the screams of agony reigned. In its midst, I felt at ease, for as short as that would last, they had decided to "spare" me, so I could "die" alongside my own commander. I still asked myself this whole time. Do I deserve this little happiness, when all my comrades have fallen?

"Nakushimi..."

I opened my eyes to the voice of the commander, that which lulled my contemplation away. His face was above me, both of us restrained and helpless, without any armor or even a piece of cloth to cover ourselves. He shone - even if that was just the light behind his face, directed at my eyes. His hand reached for my hair. I wanted to touch his face, but only stumps remained where my limbs were, as they had been rendered useless by all the wounds and I was amputated. At the very least, the one comfort of my life was there for me.

"Commander..."

"Told you to throw formalities away, didn't I...? Just call me Kaji."

"I... K-Kaji."

"ARGH!"

《Transfer commencing.》

"They're doing that right away heh..." He said, glaring around where we were.

"My last moment with you..."

"We should have done this much sooner."

"Com- ... Kaji."

I called him.

"Hmm?"

All I could manage was to crack up an awkward smile as I mouthed.

"I love you."

He froze in place.

《Transfer in progress, completion 15%.》

[mood-setter from this moment onward]

Then he, too, smiled.

"I love you too."

His face closed in on me, as his lips pressed against mine. As our bodies made contact, our passions shared and our heat blended into each other, such a short moment felt like it would last for eternity.

But no.

Our first separation after this state would also be our last, as we readied ourselves for a true eternity that not even our new-found love could hope to conquer. When the kiss was finished, Kaji's face was still within a small distance away from my eyes.

We continued our awkward mouth movements, in attempts to mimic smiles - but these tears couldn't lie. I was almost certain that my expression was the same as the sorrowful one he bore as we stared into the eyes of one another.

"I'll... miss us," I uttered.

"See you in the next life... love."

《Transfer in progress, completion 65%.》

As my sight remained fixed on Kaji, I closed my eyes - I had no desire for the last image I saw to be anything else. My consciousness, I sensed, was drifting away, gradually. The darkness of eternity encroached.

The darkness came and took me away.

- War of a Million Stars - Ode to an End -